


All We've Lost

by Freedoms_Champion



Series: Malcolm Merlyn's Mom Moments [4]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Between Seasons, Gen, Hugs, Malcolm is still looking after the kids, Ninja Day Off, Protective Malcolm Merlyn, corto maltese - Freeform, mentions of Moira's death, mentions of Tommy's death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:46:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24529348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freedoms_Champion/pseuds/Freedoms_Champion
Summary: Malcolm can hear Thea crying on the other side of the door. It makes all of his old mom instincts go a little crazy.
Relationships: Malcolm Merlyn & Thea Queen
Series: Malcolm Merlyn's Mom Moments [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1765921
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	All We've Lost

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, thanks for checking this out! I really hope you enjoy it.
> 
> This one is really short, but Mal and Thea deserve to have a few moments without any agendas.

Malcolm paused outside Thea’s door, about to knock for their morning training. A muffled sob forestalled that plan. Instead of knocking, he pushed the door open and crossed the room to wrap himself around the slender body of his daughter.

Thea was curled in a ball at the foot of her bed, but Malcolm quickly pulled her into his lap, completely ignoring any potential weirdness.

“Oh, kiddo, tell me what’s wrong,” he murmured, smoothing hair back from her face. He could feel her shaking and rocked her slightly.

After a long moment, Thea managed to control her breathing. “It’s nothing, Dad. I’m good to start training.”

She tried to push away from him, but Malcolm only let her sit next to him. He kept an arm around her shoulders.

“I can’t let you ignore this, Thea,” he said, doing his best to be gentle as well as firm. “I agreed to train you to be strong, not heartless. You can tell your dad what’s bothering you.”

Tears seeped out of her eyes, no matter how hard Thea tried to stop them. Malcolm offered her the sleeve of his robe and she wiped them away with an awkward laugh.

“It’s just everything that happened, you know. I miss Mom.” Her voice broke slightly, which drove straight into Malcolm’s heart. “Maybe she wasn’t the best person, but she loved me and it’s not right that psycho killed her. I miss my friends and Ollie. I thought when I went that I wanted to leave everything behind, but it’s still a part of me. Is that bad?”

Malcolm couldn’t help a smile, particularly when Thea ducked her head and only looked up at him from the cover of her hair.

“Not at all, Thea. There are things about home that I miss too. I left so many mistakes in that city that I should never want to think about it, but there were good things there too. And I miss Moira too. We didn’t always get along, but I always admired how fiercely she protected her children. I just wish I could have lived up to her example.”

“You mean Tommy,” Thea said quietly. Malcolm knew that she was still adjusting to the fact that Tommy had been her half-brother, but of course the death of a friend would have left a weight on her. He hugged her a little closer, even though the death of his son still felt like a knife sliding along every vein in his body.

“I do, but I also wish I could have protected you from some of the things that happened. I was so selfishly fixated on my goals that I wasn’t much of a father for most of my life.”

And blaming himself wouldn’t make Thea feel better. Malcolm pushed away the pain, drawing on the lessons he was attempting to share with her, and managed a smile.

“Why don’t we do something fun today? Ever since we arrived here, we’ve been working. It’s well past time we had a day off.”

“What do ninjas do on their days off?” Thea asked, a touch of humor coming back into her eyes.

“Hang out at the pool. Watch really bad television. In this, Thea, I bow to your mastery over leisure activities. I know you will not fail your student.”

Now she let out a real laugh. Maybe it was a little shaky, but Malcolm knew the only thing that would really help her was time. He left to room to change into real clothes, ready for a day of keeping his daughter laughing.

Tomorrow he could go back to making sure she would keep breathing.


End file.
